The Russian Wrap Masters Cup was held on the 21st - 24th October 2019 in Moscow. 32 of the best Russian and CIS wrappers competed for the glory and chance to participate in the World Wrap Masters Final 2020 held in Madrid from 26th – 27th March at the Global Print Expo 2020.
This year, Russian Wrap Masters Cup’s main theme was Vikings. 700 square meters of the largest Russian advertisement expo “Reklama-2019” turned into a Nordic warriors’ village. Just like Vikings, wrappers are relentless fighters, who dedicate their lives to their passion. More than that, both Vikings and wrappers use edged weapons to achieve their goals.
Image credit: Tim Evans / Wrapper Mapper
During the 4-day competition, participants had to demonstrate their skills in various aspects of wrapping – several tasks were performed on cars that featured Viking-themed surprise tasks. Competitors wrapped Viking shields and helmets.
Before the final day of the competition all competitors, their friends and families were invited to a special Viking-themed party which included sword-fighting, beer-drinking as well as a live performance of famous Russian folk music band «Тролль гнёт ель» (“Troll bends fir”).
Competitors demonstrated their skills across 7 different rounds, which featured applying already printed designs. Competitors had to demonstrate their creatibity, technique and precision as well as free-hand design rounds to impress viewers and judges. In the final round, 8 finalists had 90 minutes to wrap one side of a car.
Image credit: Tim Evans / Wrapper Mapper
It took over 2 hours for the international team of judges to choose the winner. Kirill Kukanin was crowned the Russian Wrap Master Cup winner, Kirill is from Moscow and it is his second win as he won the same competition in 2017. Second place went to Ivan Chebotarev – a dedicated wrapper from Nizhniy Novgorod and Valentin Gerasimov from the Novosibirsk came third place.
Russian Wrap Masters Cup 2019 was a bright and colorful event, full of emotions and friendly competition. Organizers would also like to particularly say “thanks” to Tadashi Kariya, Rafal Zmuda and Tim Evans for joining the judges’ crew and sharing their vast knowledge of tricky wrap techniques with participants and audience.